The British university mess is so clearly what happens when the incentives of the people administering and consulting on the system bear no relation to those of anyone actually working in it

More information on our latest and last CCR challenge lshubwales.com/news/innovat...

Last time of promoting this - next week, we publish our alternative for Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd ukania.substack.com/p/a-critique...

After four years, the current phase of the CCR Challenge Fund is coming to an end, but we are very proud of what we have achieved through our work during this time. Watch the video to find out more about the impact of the CCR Challenge Fund:

big scoop from @georgewparker.bsky.social “English university is set to be fined a record £585,000 over allegations it failed to uphold free speech and academic freedom, in a landmark ruling in the debate over student rights on campus”

Find out from our case study video how IQ Endoscopes are working with @cavuhb.bsky.social and @cedarcardiff.bsky.social in the last phase of the Endoscopy Challenge @zvhilton.bsky.social @clivelloydspex.bsky.social @cherj.bsky.social @cu-cardiffbusiness.bsky.social

This is a great example of the challenge-led innovation we have been supporting in collaboration with @ccrchallenge.bsky.social #innovation #mission

Our recent #MissionsInAction event (21 Feb) featured case studies of real-life mission-led/challenge-based activity. Did you miss it? Find out more and watch all the presentations on our website: www.challengefund.wales/news/mission...

A lot can happen in 20 years

Important critique of how the ‘transformation process’ that is engulfing Cardiff University is being managed. We should debate the what but not the how of organizational change. The twin harms of reputational damage and to staff wellbeing must be minimised.

I talk about why academics in Cardiff University are angry, why I’ve voted for a strike, and higher education policy more generally from about 15 minutes in. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

In 2004, defence accounted for > 30% of UK govt R&D spending; in 2022 it stood at 13%. An important graph for appreciating the scale of changes to the UK’s science & innovation landscape that geopolitics is likely to dictate, as the “peace dividend” unwinds

Read this: it really captures the reality of mass redundancies in the university sector, which will only snowball from here. voice.cymru/two-weeks-in...

Universities are: successful exports, magically avoiding trade barriers. The buyers come here and give you £! They are also spreaders of our values and way of life abroad. They are great ways of levelling up as a campus does not need to be in the South.

The Welsh university system is in such dire straits. For a small, mostly rural country that needs economic growth, and is trying to build a sense of itself, that's a disaster. Yet the whole reaction (unlike steel) is like *shrugs shoulders, whatever*. I don't get it. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Great gesture

Here's the crazed madness of British Higher Education policy: there's a big demand to do Engineering, but unis can't afford to offer more places. Utterly maddening. Stupid, dumb as rocks country. 🇬🇧

Around 400,000 people work in universities across the UK, and more then 200,000 of them are academics. The closures and job losses we’re seeing in the sector just now are a major industrial crises affecting the key workplaces and economic drivers of hundreds of towns and cities.

Hey industrial relations people (labo(u)r relations, unions etc.). This looks like a great network.

Totally agree with this. If there isn't a major course correction there won't be much left of Welsh Higher Education by the end of the decade. It's in even worse shape than the HE 'system' in the rest of the UK. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today's universities slashing and burning have been Brunel and Edinburgh. As the crisis deepens, there'll be multiple news like this most days. Remember: you can't cut your way to safety, it's impossible.

One underreported facet of the Great University Crisis is the contribution of a small number of consultancy firms who recommend: *Centralise functions *Cut small courses *Reduce student options *Abolish loads of joint awards *Chop staff headcount This is *exactly* what you must not do. (1/3)

@cssjournal.bsky.social Call for Papers on Re-emergence of #IndustrialStrategy edited by @dgbailey.bsky.social @gretegans.bsky.social @lisadepropris.bsky.social and @cgrisbath.bsky.social Co-Director @prt1969.bsky.social Please share widely 👇 think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

Do you have a research paper on #coworkingspaces #thirdspaces? See @cssjournal.bsky.social Call for Papers. Special Issue edited by @fmfai.bsky.social & Ilaria Mariotti 👇🏼 @clivelloydspex.bsky.social @dgbailey.bsky.social @stefaniafiorentino.bsky.social @edwardyates.bsky.social

Very good advice here for all those university colleagues now facing redundancy. Do have a look also if you can feel the crisis getting nearer and nearer. 👇

An entirely new financial settlement is needed in Higher Education - as many of us have been saying all along. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Interesting piece

Congratulations to IQ Endoscopes for securing major new funding! The company's work is also supported through our #EndoscopyChallenge with @cavuhb.bsky.social @cedarcardiff.bsky.social @zvhilton.bsky.social @clivelloydspex.bsky.social @cherj.bsky.social @cu-cardiffbusiness.bsky.social

From acorns… great to see the progress being made by one of one of our @ccrchallenge.bsky.social innovators

This is tragic. Michael was an inspiration and had many friends @cardiffunilib.bsky.social Thank you and RIP

‘We have to get over the feeling that any failed pilot is a waste of money. It is not, as long as you've learned something by doing it.’ NAO chief Gareth Davies on the need for innovation in public services and how the NAO will support this www.thetimes.com/article/9e71...

Welsh Government “very disappointed” that nursing course on list of cuts ‘WalesOnline asked Cardiff University and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board whether they had discussed the proposed axing of the Cardiff University school of nursing ... So far neither has responded to those questions.’

You can track the unfolding disaster at Cardiff University here LIVE, as one of the UK's constituent nations actually chooses to gut parts of its flagship HEI: www.walesonline.co.uk/news/educati...

Context: today Cardiff University announce proposals for 400 redundancies, including 15 in School of Geography, which will also be merged with school of social sciences...

Best of 2024: New British Academy interactive maps reveal cold spots in social sciences, humanities and arts in UK higher education – especially affecting disadvantaged students. Ruairí Cullen explains

Universities oversee strategic state infrastructure. They should never, ever have been put in charge of all that without much stronger strategic oversight: nor should Senior Management Teams have been unfairly loaded with tasks far, far beyond their pay grade. www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/...

Cracking gig last night. Thanks to @ianprowse.bsky.social and all the band and guests. See you next year!

Fascinating paper on where 6000 global elites went to college. Billionaires, CEOs, heads of state, central bankers, etc. In a word: Harvard. Fully 10% of global elites went to Harvard. Elite US schools are over-represented (23% IvyPlus), but nobody comes close to Harvard. 🧵

This is huge. The EFJ represents over 295,000 journalists in 44 countries 👇 www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/media/e...

Nearly ready for the latest in our Changemakers series of events on data enabled decision making. #innovation #publicservices @ccrchallenge.bsky.social

Exciting news, organizational researchers! @orgstudies.bsky.social is now on Bluesky! And so are our co-editors-in-chief: @tzilber.bsky.social and @paoloquattrone.bsky.social

Some intended and unintended effects of academic incentives on research. academyhealth.org/publications...

ICYMI we’ve launched a new beta tool using HESA data to track if university departmental closures are leading to geographical ‘cold spots’ for the availability of particular social science/humanities/arts subjects www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/policy-and-r...

#academicsky welcome!

This year marks 50 years since Harry Braverman’s Labor and Monopoly Capital. Work in the Global Economy is celebrating with a themed issue: Doing #LabourProcessTheory and Research 50 Years On. Register for the webinar here (Nov 21, 04:30 PM): ow.ly/scZA50U7Ngq #LaborStudies

Agree, well worth a read

'The survey...recorded data from 365 institutions across 66 countries, showed enrolment fell by an average of 27% in Canada, 18% in the UK, and 6 per cent in the US. African countries reported no change, Asian countries a 4 per cent fall, and other European countries a 2 per cent increase.' 1/2

A new report by Dr Kostas Kollydas for the Local Innovation Policy Partnership Hub summarises skills policy across the UK and draws key learnings from place-based interventions related to skills. shorturl.at/2JLfh